Love At Last

LILY

“Why?” he asked.

“I have a competition in three days, three days!” I exclaimed wide eyed “I have to get myself prepared, and now?” I continued.

“I already promised thrice the prize you’d be getting so why the fuss? I don’t get why you should turn me down, Lily.”

“Is that what you think this is all about?” I asked. “This is not just about the prize money to me, you know?”

“Really? I thought it was, though,” he jeered.

“Cayden!” I exclaimed. “Look, this isn’t all about the money, okay? It isn’t. I’m going to be competing with chefs of high caliber, bakers all over the state and beyond,” I tried to explain the angle I came from.

“What exactly do you want? I can recall vividly the day we went to get you registered for this competition. I asked you why, you said and I quote ‘I need that cash’,” he mimicked, “so what exactly are you saying?” he asked.

“It’s different now,” I retorted.

“What exactly?”

“Cayden I’m really excited for that day, okay? Think about me too, I really want to feel the thrill that comes with events as this one,” I tried to rub minds with him.

“C’mon Lily. Should I quadruple the price? Get you a new house? Name it. I need you to be on that plane with me,” he pleaded.

“Cayden, this…is…not…about the money, okay?” I said between breaks. “Do you think increasing the price would make me do otherwise?”

“I really need you, please,” he pleaded.

“Cayden please. I can’t do what you ask of me,” I refused politely.

“What happens to the flight tickets then?”

“You should have informed me before you got them.”

“There was no need to do that. You’re coming with me,” he said beyond shadow of doubt. I wondered how he could be so sure I would go with him. “I expect to see you tomorrow noon at the airport. That’s when the flight is scheduled for,” he added.

“Why do you think I’d be there?”

“I don’t think, I know.” To my greatest astonishment he immediately took out his black card and kept it on the table in front of me. “Get yourself a change of clothes. Use as much as you’d need; you have to look the part.”

“Were you even listening?”

“I was,” he nodded.

“Then what’s the meaning of this?” I gestured towards the card. “I thought I made myself clear.”

“You’re coming with me tomorrow, Lily.”

“Cayden I really hope you’d understand me, honestly. Don’t make things harder than they already are for me, please,” I pleaded.

“Lily,” he stressed my name. “You know your problem?”

“What?”

“You overthink things a lot”

“It’s not about that, Cayden…,” he cut me off.

“That’s definitely what it looks like to me though. Give yourself a break from thinking and let me do that for you on the plane to New York tomorrow afternoon okay?”

“But Cay…,”

“See you tomorrow then,” he stood up and left the scene.

“Arghhh!!!” I slammed the table so hard; I’d forgotten there were still few customers in the bakery; two to be precise. On coming to a realization, I turned around and saw them staring at me in awe. It was obvious they saw the whole drama I and Cayden acted moments ago.

I smiled and urged them to ignore me and continue enjoying their snacks.

I bowed my head and placed it on the table in front of me. Cayden’s visit completely demoralized me. I was confused on what decision to make. If I chose to go with Cayden, I get more than double the prize money from the competition, but then, I was excited about the competition more than ever. ‘What if I don’t win?’ briefly, that thought raced through my mind. I thought really hard on what to do while rolling the black card Cayden left earlier in my palms.

‘Is this guy okay?’, I thought because if he were, he wouldn’t leave a ‘black card’ carelessly on the table of just anyone, forgetting I could actually get my payment from it and be completely satisfied. The more I thought hard on it, my head ached. I was really confused on what to do.

I went over to the customers – who were regulars at my bakery – and sat with them. They were astonished on why I did that, but I told them not to mind me, I only had a question for them.

“For instance, you’re to attend a competition that offers you five thousand dollars as the prize money and then someone else offers you twenty thousand dollars to ditch the competition and just accompany him somewhere, what would you do?’ I asked them.

After staring at me like I had lost my mind there for a second, the guy in blue striped tee-shirt asked me, “does this have to do with the guy who left here moments ago?”

It would be pathetic of me to deny the obvious, so I just nodded my head in affirmation.

“Do what you want, miss,” the guy in black shirt cut in.

“Now, that’s the problem,” I gestured, “I’m really confused right now and that’s why I came to ask your opinions. So in all honesty, what would you do if you were in my shoes?” I stared at them both.

“If I were you, I’d ditch the competition,” the guy wearing the black shirt said. “First and foremost, I’m not certain I’d receive the prize money and secondly, I only get to go somewhere with you, and four times the amount is assured? I am so ditching the contest,” he explained.

“What about you?” I turned to the other guy who looked a bit older. “It’s a sticky situation, miss. A really sticky one,” he confessed.

“Right?”

“Well, if I were in your shoes, I’d ditch the contest…,”

“You would?” I cut in.

“Let me finish, miss,” he said politely.

“Please do.”

“I’d ditch the competition because presently, I’m in dire need of money. But for you, you may not need money so badly. You may just choose to ditch the contest just for the greed, without having any pressing need for such huge amount of money,” he explained. He made a lot of sense to me that I kept nodding my head repeatedly.

“I see,” I kept nodding. “Thank you very much sirs,” I thanked them and let them be. As a token of my appreciation, I packed snacks for them and placed it on ‘the house’; they weren’t to pay for it.

They appreciated my kind gesture and asked me to feel free to come to them for advice anytime they came around again.